Man receives year in jail for raping 15-year-old customer at Windham bakery

By JAMES A. KIMBLEUnion Leader CorrespondentJanuary 29. 2014 1:51PMBRENTWOOD – A Windham man admitted on Wednesday that he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at a local bakery back in May.

Matthew Hand, 20, was sentenced 12 months in the county jail in Rockingham County Superior Court after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor sexual assault charge.

Judge N. William Delker also gave Hand a suspended two-to-four year prison sentence on a felony count of felonious sexual assault.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a more serious charge of aggravated felonious sexual assault in exchange for Hand's plea and giving up his right to trial.

Hand will be required to obtain sex offender treatment and will remain on probation for two years. If he violates any terms of his probation, he could be returned to jail for up to seven days, according to Delker.

Prosecutors say that Hand forced himself on the girl while the two were at a Windham bakery on May 1.

The girl went to Baked On Pastries to pick up a pie. Hand brought her into an office and told her he wanted to have sex with her, according to police.

Prosecutors said that Hand grabbed the girl by the wrist, pushed her over a sink and forced the girl to have sex in a bathroom.

The girl repeatedly told Hand that she didn't want to have sex and to stop what he was doing.

Hand later told police that the sex was consensual, court papers say.

A grand jury had initially indicted Hand on charges of aggravated felonious sexual assault and felonious sexual assault. The new misdemeanor charge was filed by prosecutors on Wednesday.

Police said Hand was arrested at Windham High School in June 2012 for criminal threatening. He was arrested for allegedly threatening another student.

In January, he was charged with disorderly conduct in connection with an argument with a school administrator.